Just Like the Sea
by Captain Seb the Seventh
Summary: Allen and Kanda both work at the same school as teachers. But Allen has a secret that he's hiding and Kanda finds out that something fishy is going on. Kanda/Allen Tyki/Lavi.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own -man, I am only writing this for the pleasure of myself and my readers. No profit is being made.**

**Ps. I'm English so if you don't understand the school systems used in my story or any other brit-speak please don't hesitate to ask. I myself have no clue how American schools work…**

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Kanda loved the sea it was like him. A vast churning world of ever changing emotions, the sea was mostly calm and indifferent to the world but it got angry easily and once riled it was a not force to be reckoned with. It was deep and dark and cold, the ocean had deep swirling whirlpools which only a few could encounter and survive. Hardly anyone could encounter the oceans full force and still want to go back into the dangerously eddying water.

Only a few people who had encountered Kanda still wanted to be his friend.

Kanda was currently seriously doubting his love of the sea at this moment in time because he was cutting it very close to drowning. He had been walking along the rickety wooden pier that stretched out for about hundred meters into the gray churning sea quite happily, his hair whipped about his head and neck like an angry snake and the wind bit at his face like a pack of starving wolves. Once Kanda had reached the end of the pier the wooden plank he was standing on gave a sickening groan and snapped clean in two. Kanda barely had time to yell before he was plunged into the harsh choking waves of the ocean. He was NOT a happy bunny. Despite loving the sea Kanda had never learnt to swim. Not very clever to be honest and he cursed himself as he sank deeper into the icy talons of the deep.

His world was blacking out; salt water stung at his eyes and forced its way into his mouth and nose. Kanda cursed at the cruel way life worked.

Kanda made the best 'che' sound he could with a mouth full of briny sea water; when the typical glowing light one saw when they came close to death appeared. As the glow made its way towards him Kanda realised that it wasn't a glowing light at all, it was a person.

This person was a young man with hair the same colour as moonbeams and eyes like twin diamonds. The weirdest thing was he had flippers and a pair of gills which pulsed pink on both sides of his ghostly pale neck.

He blinked a pair of transparent eyelids that flicked horizontally across his luminous silver eyes. A snowy webbed hand swam through the gloom and caressed the side of Kanda's rapidly paling face with frozen fingers. The sea-boy lowered his face to Kanda's and attached his mouth onto the drowning man's.

Kanda could have cried with the relief of being able to breathe again. But he was Kanda so he didn't, he just scowled.

Somehow this fish boy was taking in oxygen from the water through his gills and instead of passing it back out through the gills or whatever fish do he was breathing it back out of his mouth. Kanda was getting enough oxygen now and was breathing just fine… apart from he was kissing some underwater fish man which was weirding him out slightly.

The bizarre humanoid sea creature kicked his powerful fins and propelled the soaking man to the surface of the churning gray sea.

Their heads broke the surface of the water. Kanda's hairs shining like midnight ink and the sea-man's like mercury.

"W-who," Kanda managed to splutter out, a copious amount of sea water also spilled from his lips.

The boy pointed to his neck with a delicate finger, the transparent webbing of his hand shimmering slightly. He opened and closed his mouth several times displaying teeth as white as ivory that narrowed to sharp needle like points, the boy obviously couldn't speak.

Still supporting Kanda he kicked his fins and swam him back to shallower waters. He dropped Kanda were he could stand and disappeared back into the sea foam with a flick of translucent fins; leaving Kanda knee-deep in freezing cold sea water.

Kanda's hair had come out of its pony tail and was flopping over his face. Irritably he flicked it away, and glared at a dog walker who was staring at him as if he was the Loch Ness Monster. Muttering to himself Kanda made the cold wet journey home wondering if he was going to end up with pneumonia.

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Once at home Kanda headed straight for the shower, and sighed as the warmth of the water and steam caressed his chilled body. As he washed his long midnight hair free of brine he pondered deeply over the mysterious fish-like man that had rescued him.

He couldn't have possibly been rescued by a man who was half fish; he must have been delirious from the lack of oxygen. Perhaps his mind had created this elaborate trick to explain how he had been washed back to shore by the waves.

Kanda adopted that idea as the most likely scenario and stepped out of the shower groping for a towel through the thick vapor that had clouded his bathroom.

Once dried and dressed Kanda decided to get some of his work out of the way to take his mind off things.

Making his way to his study Kanda sat at his desk and slid the pile of papers he had to mark towards him.

Kanda was a Japanese teacher at his local school and he hated marking papers with a passion. His students always made silly mistakes which any blundering idiot could have corrected, but no they had to make Kanda's life hard and for that he gave them all D minuses.

Once he had completed his work Kanda glanced at the clock, 11:35 PM.

Sleep seemed to be in order, doing just that Kanda retired for the night only to dream of eyes like the moon and fingers of ice.

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Allen Walker hurried about his flat collecting his things for the day as if the very demons of hell were snapping at his heels. He was late for his first day of work at his new teaching post at Black Order High. He was to be the new music teacher after his uncle affectionately known at the Fourteenth (His real name Nea Walker) had retired.

Marian Cross the schools deputy head and Allen's former guardian also forced him into the job to pay off his depts. Komui Lee the Head Master was all too happy to have Allen as his new music professor. He could play a number of instruments and had a few very shiny promising looking degrees which looked good on the school's record. Anyway it was take the job or starve.

Once everything was gathered up he sprinkled a few flakes of goldfish-food into Timcampy's fish bowl and pelted out of the door surprised he didn't break the sound barrier.

Black Order High was just round the corner from Allen's pokey little cottage so the distance wasn't the problem. It was the weather.

Living in a tiny little village by the sea was great in the summer and all, what with the sun, sand and swimming. Winter however was a whole other caboodle.

The wind was fiercer than a rabid tiger and the sea… well Allen liked the sea for many reasons but he didn't enjoy it when it was intent on slapping him around the face on the way to work, which it was now attempting with much vigor.

Allen sprinted along the coastal path on the way to work, the sea wall made sure to flick the waves in just the wrong direction.

Dogging the waves and ducking the sprays Allen rushed through the obstacle course of freezing water and slippery cobble stones making it to school in what he thought was record time… well technically it was seeing as it was his only time so far.

Seeing the tall dark spire of the school's bell tower (what kind of a school had a bell tower?) leering out of the sea-mist towards him Allen couldn't have been happier. School equals dry and warm, it was all good on Allen's list of priorities.

Slipping and sliding into the marble-floored entrance hall Allen skidded right into the reception desk.

"Uh hello?" Allen asked, his voice echoed around the vast room.

"Greetings, you must be Allen Walker!" A very loud and somewhat shrill voice greeted Allen from somewhere behind him.

Allen pivoted on the spot to face what could possibly be the most eccentric man he has ever laid eyes on.

He was tall and slim with dark hair and almost violet eyes glinting behind a pair of evil-professor-specs. He was wearing an odd getup of science gear (a white lab coat and latex gloves) and what appeared to be the most of a suit.  
>His shoes were shiny and black and clacked along the marble floor. As he approached a pair of mismatched socks -a violent green and a pastel pink- winked at Allen from under his trousers hemline.<p>

Allen blinked… twice.

The smile that had spread across the crazy man's face sent jolts of ice down Allen's spine.

"I'm headmaster Komui Lee!" Komui smiled again and extended a latex covered hand for Allen to shake.

Gingerly accepting the hand Allen forced an uneasy smile and remembered his manners, "Good morning head master, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The headmaster shook Allen's hand possibly a little too vigorously and nodded his head a few times making his glasses glint in the white light of the reception hall.

"The pleasure is all mine, to be honest you've saved our music department Allen! Can I call you Allen?" Komui tilted his head like a bemused puppy.

"Eh… sure!" Allen gave another shaky smile to the Head Master.

"Well then Allen, my lovely little sister will come and show you to your classroom right about-"

As Komui was saying all this a petite girl of around Allen's age entered the room and the headmaster's attention seemed to gravitate towards her.

"Lenalee my sweet!" Komui almost flew towards his sister and firmly attached himself like an octopus.

The girl smiled a smile that lit up her face like a firework, "Morning Brother."

Allen watched all this with wide eyes, standing completely still like a very awkward statue.

Komui's sister soon managed to pry herself free of her brothers clawing clutches of love and made her way over to Allen.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Lenalee Lee. I'm the art teacher!" Lenalee's voice was gentle and sweet, she smiled again as she extended her hand for Allen to shake.

Allen smiled in return and shook her hand. Allen noticed that Lenalee had the exact same hair and eye colour as her brother, but her features were more rounded which gave her a softer cutesier look than Komui.

"I'm Allen nice to meet you too," Replied Allen, liking the girl already.

"Shall I show you to your classroom then Allen?" Asked Lenalee.

As they were about to leave Allen felt a claw like hand latch onto his shoulder and he was swiveled to face the maniacal eyes of Komui.

"If you even think about tainting my Lenalee's innocence I'll cut out your tongue and stick it somewhere the sun doesn't shine." Menaced the headmaster.

Allen paled, "Of course not sir, girls aren't really my area anyhow!" Allen put his hands up in the universal surrender sign.

As Komui processed Allen's words it was like a light switch was clicked inside his head, "Oh you're homosexual? That's fine then, off you trot and play nice!" Evil frightening Komui was gone and happy nice Komui had come back which left a very stunned confused Allen.

Allen was pulled from his bemused stupor by the art teacher's amused voice, "Don't worry about him Allen, his bark is worse than his bite!"

Laughing nervously Allen let Lenalee lead him to his new classroom.

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**Oh wow hello I'm back! After oooh two years? I just read through and spruced things up a bit. I edited a bit here and there. I'm going to do the same with all of my chapters then continue on with the story, but don't hold your breath!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own D . grey - man, I am only writing this for the pleasure of myself and my readers. No profit is being made.**

**Also now I have decided to put the characters thoughts into my story, they will be shown in italics!**

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Allen was pulled from his bemused stupor by the art teacher's smiling voice, "Don't worry about him Allen, his bark is worse than his bite!"

Laughing nervously Allen let Lenalee lead him to his new classroom.

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Allen fidgeted at the back of the school hall as he waited for the headmaster to announce his arrival to the students and staff. Every morning Black order High had an assembly to read out notices for the day and to let Komui waffle on about something nobody cared about. In this case Allen was being introduced.

"Ahem!" Komui spoke loudly and his voice bounced around the vast room like a rabbit that had drank too much coffee.

The droning chatter of the students died down and Allen saw a few at the front still giggling get a scolding from a teacher with a shock of white hair curving over his face.

Komui raised his voice slightly louder so those at the back of the hall could hear him clearly, "First of all I must say welcome back to all of you, I hope you enjoyed you're summer holidays and I'm happy to welcome a new member of staff to you all!"

Allen could swear his hands were shaking.

"As you all know Professor Walker retired last term and none other than his nephew –another Professor Walker- has taken his place, Come on up!" Komui smiled and frantically beckoned Allen to the front of the assembly hall.

Allen took a deep breath and weaved his way through the sea of students, who were craning their necks like barley stalks in the wind to get a look at him.

Once Allen was at the front of the hall Komui carried on speaking, "I'd like to welcome Professor Allen Walker to you all! He's very well learnt in all sorts of music and is an excellent teacher; I hope you all make him feel welcome!"

As Allen smiled timidly at the front of the hall he felt a stare scorching him through darkness. As Allen squinted his eyes and peered through the gloom. When he caught sight of who it was Allen's stomach clenched in fear.

The teacher staring at him was only too familiar; it was the man he'd saved from drowning only the day before (well he looked very much like him).

It seemed that the mystery professor recognised Allen too. But before Allen could take a proper look at the man Komui carried on speaking to the students.

"Now vamoose you don't want to be late for lessons!" Komui sounded far too delighted for this early on a Monday morning.

There was the rapid scuffling of feet and chatter as voice as if somebody had suddenly turned the volume up very fast and Allen lost sight of the long haired professor.

Hoping he wasn't who Allen thought he was, the new music Professor hurried off to his first lesson.

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Kanda stared at Professor Walker through the dimly lit assembly hall, he was totally perplexed. The new teacher looked very much like his hallucination… almost too identical.

How could of his brain concocted a complete replica of somebody but without ever meeting them? Perhaps he had seen Allen around the village somewhere and his subconscious used him to play that annoying trick on his mind.

Kanda sighed and buried his face in his palm. He was getting way too into this.

_"Just forget the fish-boy and get on with your life!"_ he thought.

Kanda tried to do just that and exited the assembly hall as soon as Komui said they could go.

He walked rapidly through the school corridors towards his classroom. It was one of the smaller classrooms seeing as not many students took Japanese, but it was one of the nicer rooms of the school. Kanda took his place at his desk and waited for his first class to arrive.

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Allen was relived to find that his first class was a small group of GCSE music students* and they were pretty well behaved.

They shushed when he told them to be quiet and answered questions when he asked them, over all it was a pleasant teaching experience.

Mind you Allen was too engrossed with his teachings to notice most of the female population (and a few of the male) were gawping at him like he was a particularly rare species at the zoo.

Unfortunately his next class was full of rambunctious eleven year olds who wreaked havoc in the music room. Drums were bashed and keyboards were smashed, overall creating a horrible racket.

Allen was surprised he had managed to retain the full use of his ears.

After his first two classes were over it was morning break and Allen made his way to the Staff Room anxious to meet his new colleges.

After getting a little lost along the way Allen finally made it to the large room squashed full of sofas and what appeared to be several kettles and tea trays. As soon as he made it through the door Lenalee jumped up off her chair and pulled him over to where she was sitting with some other teachers.

"Allen let me introduce you to some of the staff, this is Arystar Krory." Lenalee gestured to a very tall thin man sitting to her right. Most of his hair was black except for a long curving fringe that hugged the side of his face; it was almost whiter than Allen's.

Krory smiled nervously and held his hand out for a shake.

"Nice to meet you Allen, I'm the history professor." He had a deep mellow voice that seemed slightly panicky.

Allen smiled brightly, "It's a Pleasure!"

Lenalee then moved onto the woman sitting opposite them, "This is Miranda Lotto, she teaches German."

Miranda Lotto was small with dark hair and dark eyes; she smiled demurely and blushed when Allen kissed her knuckles.

"Ein Vergnügen, Sie zu treffen*" Allen spoke fluently in German.

Miranda replied in kind and seemed pleased to meet somebody who could speak her native tongue.

Allen then swiftly explained to Lenalee and Arystar that he lived in Berlin for two years with Cross when they were traveling, so German was one of few languages that he could speak.

The staff room soon started to fill up as more teachers arrived.

Allen was introduced to professor Hevlaska who taught chemistry, and Kevin Yeegar who was the food technology teacher.

He then politely excused himself to go make a cup of tea.

Allen figured he'd need quite a few cups of tea to keep himself going throughout the day.

As Allen reached for a mug his hand brushed up against somebody else's. Allen jerked his hand back and turned to look at who it belonged to.

A singular acid green eye winked at him, its twin covered by a black leather eye patch. The eye's owner had scarlet hair that danced about on top of his head like flames and a goofy, good natured grin.

"Heh Sorry about that!" The redhead smiled even wider and handed Allen a mug with a purple unicorn on it.

Allen took the mug, "No worries, would you like me to pour you some tea?"

"Thanks!" The eyepatched teacher held his mug out as Allen poured him a cup.

"My names Lavi Bookman by the way, I teach english literature."

"I'm Allen Walker the music professor; you probably know that already though." Allen set the teapot down and smiled at Lavi.

"Yep I heard it in the assembly this morning," Lavi Paused and seemed to think for a moment.

"Speaking of the assembly Yuu was glaring up a storm… I mean more than usual. Do you two know each other?"

"Sorry who's Yuu?" Allen had a sinking feeling that this Yuu was the long haired professor with the unfriendly face.

Lavi let out a little laugh, "You obviously don't know him then, maybe he just really doesn't like short, white haired, music professors!"

Allen opened his mouth to tell Lavi he wasn't that short when the redhead interrupted him.

"Hey Yuu-Chan speak of the devil!" Lavi then let out a squeal as 'Yuu-Chan' elbowed him in the ribs.

"Do not call me that baka usagi!" This mysterious Yuu which Allen couldn't see past Lavi's tall lanky frame, had a deep voice with a slight accent which Allen couldn't place.

"Naaaw Yuuuu, Kanda sounds so boring!" Lavi wined like a puppy that had its tail trodden on.

Kanda was going to retort when Lavi put his mystical interrupting powers to good use again.

"Hey Yuu have you met Allen yet?"

"The beansprout?"

At beansprout Lavi doubled over and laughed, this meant Allen locked eyes with Kanda over Lavi's back.

Kanda's eyebrows lowered into a frown at the sight of Allen, while the music professor merely raised one of his a sipped at his tea – trying to feign total calmness.

Lavi stood and composed his face, "Well I'll be seeing you I have the troublesome twelve year olds next, what a joy!"

The English teacher set down his mug and gathered up some papers and flounced out of the room, leaving Allen and Kanda practically by themselves. Komui was snoozing in the corner.

Allen extended his free arm for a hand shake, "Nice to meet you I'm Allen."

"Kanda," Mumbled the grumpy teacher who then turned on his heel and left Allen standing alone with only Komui's snores to keep him company.

"Well he was polite." Allen mumbled to himself and set down his unicorn mug quickly hurrying off to his third lesson.

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**Also I know most of you people reading this are American and you probably don't know much about the English schooling system, I know nothing about the American one. So I will put little foot notes like the ones below to help you understand.**

***GCSE is an exam you sit when you are 15/16 years old at an English School. You can choose several subjects so the whole year would not be taking Music, thus making it a smaller than an average class.**

*** "Ein Vergnügen, Sie zu treffen" is German for "A Pleasure to meet you"… I think. That's what Google translate said anyway.**

**Thank you for reading! Review?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello chaps! Nice to see you for the third chapter, I hope you enjoy it. (Sorry it took so long)**

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"Well he was polite." Allen mumbled to himself and set down his unicorn mug quickly hurrying off to his third lesson.

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A tall dark shadow leant against the front gates of Black Order High waiting for a certain music professor to immerge.

A faint trail of cigarette smoke could be seen spiralling up into the air above him, curling away from the softly glowing cinders delicately perched in between the shadow's fingers.

That morning's rain has stopped but the shadow was standing in a small pool of water that had drained off his dark, damp suit. He didn't seem to mind the wet of the rain or the cloying cold that was never far behind a good drenching.

The shadowy figure drew a bright silver pocket watch from the inside of his suit jacket with his cigarette free hand. It appeared to almost materialise from within his body. After checking the time the shadow tucked the watch back into the depths of his bespoke suit.

When the trill of the schools bell signalled, sounding the end of lessons the shadow jerked up its head, removing it from the shadows.

The pale autumn sunlight streaming onto the shadow's face revealed a devastatingly handsome man with bright gold eyes.

He reminded one of a shark. With his toothy grin and his attitude of pure confidence, he obviously knew he was a top predator.

Meanwhile inside another person looked out of his classroom window. Kanda with looks just as striking but with a more feline quality stared hard at the strange man standing outside the school gates.

Odd men standing outside schools were never a good sign. Getting up Kanda grabbed his briefcase and went to investigate.

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Allen was happy but exhausted, his first day of work had been tiresome but it left him with the feeling of fulfilment. Once he had gathered his things he readied himself for the walk home, umbrella at the ready.

Just before he reached the school gates he heard raised voices, one was deep and smooth while the other was marginally lighter with a slight Japanese accent.

"Calm down sir, I am not a paedophile, I'm waiting for my cousin he just started work here!" This voice was familiar and Allen immediately knew who he was. The tell-tale smell of expensive cigarette smoke was clue.

"I don't care if you are waiting for somebody or not, just fuck the hell off!" Allen knew that voice as well, the grumpy tone and foul language was a dead give-away.

Allen rounded the corner of the gates and added his own voice to the argument, "Oi, Kanda! Tyki! Shut up would you, you're disturbing the peace!"

Two slightly stunned faces turned to face Allen's determined one.

"You know this asshole Al?" Tyki plucked the cigarette from his mouth and ground it out on the pavement with a polished black shoe.

"Don't insult me you pervert! I'm protecting the morals of this school; we can't have child molesters running rampant in the school grounds!" Kanda then seemed to swear a blue streak in Japanese. Tyki merely retaliated with swears in Portuguese.

"Ladies break it up! Kanda this is my cousin Tyki and he is not a paedophile, and Tyki, Kanda is not an asshole he is trying to protect the schools image. You don't exactly help." Allen stepped in between the two angry men and attempted to break up the fight

"Che." Kanda crossed his arms but didn't leave.

Allen turned to face his cousin, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Tyki mimicked a hurt expression and clutched at his chest, "You're not pleased to see me Al? You wound me."

Allen sighed and apologised to Kanda again before grabbing hold of Tyki's hand and pulling him back to his cottage.

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Kanda watched as the music professor wandered off with his cousin. They looked nothing like each other, but Kanda could see the resemblance between Tyki and Nea Walker.

Letting out a sigh Kanda turned around and started the walk home, his shoes clicking on the cobblestone road. Highly confused and more than a little pissed off.

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"Tyki, I thought you went to Portugal to stay with Sheryl?" Questioned Allen, as he pushed a cup of coffee across his rickety dining table towards his cousin.

"Oh I did but he annoyed the hell out of me and he said I wasn't a good influence on Rhode. So I thought I'd come stay with you!" Tyki tilted his head to the side like a curious dog and sipped at his coffee.

Allen sighed and buried his face in his hands, "Don't you have anywhere else to stay? If there are two of us swimming about in the sea that stupid Professor Kanda is definitely going to know there is something fishy going on… no pun intended."

Tyki set down his tea and his previously relaxed face morphed into a frown, "He saw you!?"

"He was drowning Tyki; I couldn't just leave him to die!" Allen cried.

Tyki hummed and nodded his head causing a strand of jet black hair to fall over his eyes, "I see, well let's just hope he doesn't get too suspicious and we'll only go swimming when it's dark or stormy so we won't get sighted."

Allen let out a puff of air causing the steam rising from his cup of tea to distort into strange ghostly shapes, "Well we're in luck Tyki, it's practically always stormy here."

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The school week dragged on and Allen wondered if the weekend would ever arrive. The deep set yearning that he was oh so familiar with was starting to make an appearance.

He needed the sea, water, a lake anything! Allen longed to be able to just go swimming again.

Having a full time job left little or no leisure time during the working week and Allen was getting desperate.

As Allen waited for his next class he fiddled with the glass pendant around his neck, both cursing it for the trouble it caused and thanking it for the whole new world it had opened up to him.

Allen's thoughts of crystal-cool waters were interrupted when the deep husky drawl of Marian Cross caught his ears.

"Oi Walker, I heard your shark-boy cousin has shown up." Cross meandered across the music room towards Allen's desk.

Cross took a drag on his cigarette and blew the acrid smoke in Allen's face, "What is he doing here? He'll just rile things up; we don't need one sea monster swimming around let alone two!"

Allen scowled, oh how he hated this man. He thought about reminding him of the strict no smoking policy the school had but thought better of it.

"It wasn't my idea you know, he just turned up! I can't kick him out he'll have nowhere to go, and you know what happens if we are kept from water for too long!" Allen couldn't help the rising of his voice, he was stretched thin as it was what with not being in the water for almost a week, Cross's insults weren't helping.

"Bah, what of it if he goes insane and kills a few people? He'll go to prison and not come in contact with water deep enough to swim in at all, it will finish him off. It's for the-"

Cross didn't get to finish his sentence, because Allen's hand came into contact with the deputy head's cheek with a loud slap.

"You can insult and abuse me as much as you want, but you cannot lay a harsh word against my friends!" Allen retracted his hand regretting what he had done almost instantly.

The music professor expected a retaliating blow but he felt nothing… heard nothing until a low chuckle broke the silence. Cross was laughing.

"I see the sardine has grown into a shark! It's been a long time since I've seen you Allen and I was not expecting that, but it pleases me that you can look after yourself. I shall not bother you again; just make sure pretty boy doesn't twig what is going on. He's already suspicious." And with that Cross turned and meandered right back out of the music room, leaving Allen stunned.

All of that was just to test him, if anything that just made Allen angrier.

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**Okay I know this was short but I kinda hit a block point. Hopefully the next chapter will be longer. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Omg hi I'm back. Sorry I've been away so long; just you know school and stuff kept getting in the way, and I forgot my password to my account for ages. I found a scrap of paper with my account details on under my bed though :D**

**I published this when I was fifteen; I'm now nearly eighteen so fingers crossed for a radical jump in writing skill.**

**I hope you enjoy the rest of the story and forgive me for my tardiness!**

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_All of that was just to test him, if anything that just made Allen angrier._

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Despite Allen's distress the weekend did finally arrive, and Saturday morning rose bright and breezy. The air smelt fresh and clean, the brisk wind lifting Allen's spirits higher than the sun. He'd woken up especially early so he could wake Tyki and they could slip into the sea unnoticed.

Tyki had kept mostly to himself over the past few days but he too had been feeling the longing for the sea, Allen could tell by the tightness around his eyes and mouth. Tyki's drawn out tension gave the impression he could snap with the lightest touch.

Allen smiled to himself at the thought of swimming with a companion. The past few swims he'd been on had been dreadfully solitary, only a couple of flatfish for company.

Allen grinning to himself tiptoed into the guest bedroom of his cottage. It was a tiny room barely bigger than a closet, but it managed to fit in a single bed and a tiny dresser.

Tyki was snoring softly into his pillow when Allen approached.

"Tyki wake up," Said Allen as he nudged his cousin's shoulder.

Tyki groaned and buried his face further into the bed covers.

"C'mon Tyki it's Saturday we can go swimming!" Chirped Allen in a sing-song voice.

The word swimming seemed to trigger something in Tyki's brain and he sat up in bed.

"Swimming?" He slurred, still half asleep.

"Yep hurry up and get your trunks." Replied Allen as he went to go put his own swimming trunks on under his clothes.

Allen immerged from his room first and waited for Tyki in the kitchen. It didn't take his cousin long to dress and they were soon both on their way to the beach.

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Kanda woke later than Allen and Tyki, around nine o'clock. He wasn't a naturally early riser unlike the music teacher and his creepy cousin.

Eyes blurred with sleep Kanda wandered to his kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

He half expected a tumble weed to blow out into the kitchen the fridge was so empty. Sighing Kanda shuffled back into his bedroom to get dressed, he'd just have to go out buy his breakfast then.

There were one of three places Kanda could go, one a café literally two doors down from his house. But it was more of a greasy spoon than anything else; it sold full English breakfasts and pots of earthy scented coffee.  
>Kanda disliked the way greasy food settled in his stomach, plus he was a strict vegetarian and he was sure that café it didn't even serve one meat free meal.<p>

The second option was the supermarket a couple of miles out of the village, he'd have to catch the bus to get there and Kanda despised public transport. What with all the strangers packed into a tight space, coughing, sneezing, and spreading their germs.

The third and final option for breakfast was the local seafront delicatessen. It wasn't so much of a delicatessen as it was a teashop. Its usual customers were lovey-dovey couples and old ladies. But it sold good food, and Kanda knew for a fact it did vegetarian omelettes and jasmine tea.

Kanda's mind was made up and he quickly got dressed, his stomach growling all the while.

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Allen and Tyki made it to the beach around seven, and hurried along the water front, shoes off and feet paddling in the shallows.

Allen smiled brightly at the feel of the sand between his toes and turned to look at his cousin.

Tyki cut a striking figure on the beach; he was just above six foot, dark, slim and dashing. He caught Allen looking at him and grinned back, his smile could practically wake the dead it was so dazzling.

"The cave I usually change in is just around this outcrop of rock," Said Allen pointing to a weathered grey crag of monstrous rock that protruded from the soft sand about halfway down the beach.

Tyki could see the grotto Allen was talking about. It was half in half out of the water, so they could exit the cave by swimming straight into the sea.

The entrance was about as big as a car was round and it was nicely secluded from the view of people on the beach.

Tyki nodded and walked a little faster his anticipation evident. Approaching the water they strode right into the waves.

Allen and Tyki waded towards the cave, their trousers from their knees down getting soaked. But neither of them cared, the delight of cool swirling water making up for any ruined clothes.

They reached the little cave and Allen entered without hesitation, Tyki being a little more careful where he stepped in the new location.

Once inside the cave the gradient of the floor tilted up slightly, leaving it exposed from the water and pleasantly dry.

"We can leave our clothes here Tyki, even when the tide comes in it traps a pocket of air here so we don't need to worry about our clothes getting wet." Allen said this as he was rapidly unbuttoning his shirt.

Tyki grinned, "This is all rather convenient Al, you picked a great spot. Back at Sheryl's place we had to walk for miles down the beach until we found a good spot to change. You know what with Portugal being a tourist destination hotspot, there was always some nosy foreigner poking about on the beach."

By the time Tyki had finished talking the cousins were both down to their trunks, and the identical glass pendants hanging from their necks.

"Ready?" Said Allen.

Tyki nodded once and lifted the pendant off his neck, he then nestled it inside he pile of clothes.

The reaction was nearly instantaneous.

Tyki let out a pained whine and clutched at his neck, his skin slowly darkened to a slate grey. He fell to all fours on the stony floor of the cave. His fingers gripped the rock tightly, his knuckles turning white with the strain.  
>He gasped a few times taking in as much air as possible before his gills formed properly. Webs of translucent skin formed between his fingertips and his feet lengthened into flippers. Tyki took one last great swallow of air, displaying at least two rows of shark-like teeth as he gulped.<p>

Tyki's body jerked a few times as his gills finally formed on his neck and down his ribs. Tyki raised his head to look at Allen and grinned. His smile was no longer dashing, deadly seemed a more appropriate description.

"C'mon Tyki into the water you'll suffocate up here." Allen walked towards his cousin and nudged him into the lapping water at the entrance of the cave.

Tyki complied and slithered into the sea, he didn't swim out however. He lingered in the shallows waiting for Allen. Just his eyes and the top of his head were protruding out of the water.

Despite the distortion of the waves Allen could still see his wide grin. To anyone else it would be menacing, but Allen knew Tyki would never raise a hand or fin towards a member of his family.

Tyki beckoned to Allen with a webbed finger telling him to hurry up and join him.

Allen followed suit and removed his own pendant. He winced as the shooting pains of changing zapped down his spine and limbs.

Allen's change from human to mercreature was less drastic than Tyki's.

He's skin didn't darken, if anything it got lighter and he didn't grow and extra row of teeth. His original teeth, however, lengthened into deadly needle-like fangs. Tyki's teeth were like a shark's whereas Allen's were like a viperfish.

Allen felt the rippling pain up and down his neck and ribs where his gills were forming. He gulped in oxygen through his mouth before his lungs became completely redundant, and he could no longer breathe on land.

Allen's vision blurred as his fingers and toes lengthened, and the webs of translucent skin formed between them. God it hurt but Allen knew it to be almost over.

Allen wheezed one last time before he could no longer use his lungs and slowly crawled to the water's edge.

He felt the strong grip of a cold slick hand on his wrist, and looked down to see Tyki helping him into the water.

Allen grinned weakly and practically fell into the water.

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Kanda liked to walk off his breakfast by going for a stroll on the beach. His recent brush with drowning did not put him off. He'd just be more careful about where he stepped from now on. And perhaps invest in swimming lessons.

This time Kanda strolled along the sturdy stone jetty that only stretched about as half as far into the sea as the rickety wooden one did. There was practically no chance of him falling in here, unless he was pushed of course.

Once he reached the end of the pier Kanda sat down on the sea-roughened stone and dangled his feet over the edge of the jetty. He still loved the sea despite its misgivings. Plus it was not the oceans fault he fell in, it was that godforsaken piers fault for breaking.

Sighing Kanda was about to get up and leave when he glimpsed something out at sea.

It appeared to be a bait ball. A bait ball was when a huge shoal of little fish like sardines or minnows got forced into a compacted ball, as a larger predator or predators attacked from the side-lines.

It was clearly visible because of the gulls and cormorants that were swarming in the air above it. They were like a huge beacon to any fishermen that needed a catch, and Kanda could already see the boats being dispatched and the fishermen scrambling for nets and tackle.

Kanda sat and watched the chaos for god knows how long, he just knew by the time he stood up his arse was numb and his hair had been whipped into one giant knot by the vicious wind.

As he was walking along the beach back to his house something caught Kanda's eye. It was caught around the huge outcrop of rock that scarred the beaches' otherwise blemish free shore. It appeared to be some netting from the fishing ships. However, it had something else caught in it too.

Something pale and shimmering.

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Allen and Tyki were panicking like the apocalypse was about rain fiery balls of hell down upon them.

It might as well be comparing it to the dilemma they had gotten themselves into now.

The pair of mercreatures were enticed out to sea by a huge shoal of sardines, swimming amongst fish was always fun. What Tyki and Allen did not count on was a pack of blue sharks joining in and snapping their way through the giant shoal of tiny sardine.

Blue sharks were often known as the wolves of the sea for their tendency to group together in packs and attack as one. They ignored Allen and Tyki but the sharks compacted the sardines into a massive bait ball and the cousins lost each other in the labyrinth of fish.

Allen and Tyki even when apart knew they had to get out of there, bait balls this close to the shore were rare and dangerous for a fish. It would have been spotted by the fishermen by now and they would be making their way out of the bay in hopes of getting a good haul. And fishermen meant nets, and nets meant being caught, and being caught meant being exposed.

Tyki who was bigger and stronger than Allen managed to battle his way out of the bait ball relatively unscathed, but he couldn't see his cousin anywhere.

Panic gripped the shark-like man and he swam straight back into the bait ball to find Allen.

As he frantically searched for his cousin Tyki felt something slice down his arm, it was a hook. A fishing hook to be precise, ripping it free Tyki carried on. He needed to find Allen before he was caught.

And then he saw him, a glimpse of silver hair and white skin through the shimmering fish. There was also a lot of blood. Tyki smelt it before he saw it and fear clutched at his heart painfully.

But as he reached Allen he discovered that he was not in immediate danger. He had just been scraped by some fishing hooks. However the gauges in his flesh were deep and his thick oily blood seeped into the ocean, exciting the blue sharks even more.

Tyki gripped Allen's hand and half guided half dragged him out of the bait ball.

Once free the pair turned to see the damage on each other.

Tyki had one long scrape down his shoulder and arm, whereas, Allen had a deep cut across his cheek and several down his back and thighs.

Tyki gripped Allen's hand tightly in his and they started to swim slowly back to the cave.

As they were swimming back Allen was viciously dragged out of Tyki's grip and hauled backwards.

Tyki swivelled on the spot and turned to see Allen being dragged to the surface by a huge net made out of a wire like mesh. It was caught around his left leg and ankle.

Allen thrashed about desperately trying to loosen himself.

Luckily the net appeared to be being dragged on-board by men not machine, so it was not an incredibly strong pull to fight against.

Tyki swam up and gripped at Allen trying to pull him back down but the net was tangled too deeply and it was no use pulling, Allen's leg would be shredded if they tightened the knot much more.

So Tyki swam up and used his serrated shark-like teeth the cut away at the net. It was tough, and there were a lot of strands to break. All the while they were slowly being dragged upwards.

They were about three meters from breaking the surface when Allen was finally freed. He still had a lot of netting tangled around him but he was no longer joined to the main tackle.

Tyki and Allen heard shouting above the waves and the men on board puzzled over their broken net and the huge 'shark' they must have caught.

Allen was exhausted; Tyki had to practically drag him back to the cave.

He rested Allen in the shallows as he clambered onto dry land. Quickly slipping his pendant back on he winced as he changed back to being human.

"Oh my god Allen, oh fuck fuck fuck. That was so close. Oh god I can't get you untied like this. I need a knife or something." Tyki panicked.

Allen raised a hand and gripped Tyki's wrist, gently stroking to sooth his panicked cousin.

"I… I need to go get a knife or something Al; I'll be back as soon as I can. But I can't free you like this, and I dare not use my teeth so close to your leg," Said Tyki, as he prodded at the netting digging into Allen's flesh.

It was in danger of cutting off his blood supply, he needed to be quick.

Allen nodded understanding what Tyki needed to do and watched as he quickly dressed again and left.

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Slipping off his shoes and rolling up his trousers Kanda stepped into the sea. He left his shoes on the shoreline out of the waves fetch.

Kanda approached the giant rock carefully, he was wading in shallow water here but that didn't mean you couldn't drown. As he approached the tangled mass of netting, utter shock gripped him.

It was that fish boy again, it had to be. Kanda could see a long slender leg and what could only be described as a flipper wrapped in harsh netting.

Meanwhile Allen was panicking; he could feel the vibrations of someone wading through the water towards him. God he hoped it was Tyki coming back early.

Allen lay still as a statue as the figure approached. Allen was mostly underwater even in the shallows, but there was no mistaking that tall figure and long dark hair through the distortion of the water.

"What the fuck," Said Kanda out loud to himself. He knelt in the water and prodded at Allen's leg.

Allen jerked it away and let out an angry stream of bubbles.

"Oh fuck you're real, you're fucking real," Murmured Kanda.

Allen raised his head a little letting his eyes peer over the top of the water. If he was human he would have laughed, Kanda looked like he'd seen a ghost.

Well there was no use trying to hide now, and he was too tired to move anyway. Allen lifted his leg slightly displaying the netting, showing Kanda why he was stuck.

Kanda glanced down and saw how tightly the netting was woven.

"You're stuck?"

Allen rolled his eyes, _obviously._

Kanda frowned and fumbled in his pocket, pulling out his house keys. Allen wondered whatever for. But as he looked closer he saw a penknife key ring attached to them.

Kanda carefully slotted free the knife appendage and started to slice through the netting wrapped around Allen's leg.

Allen hissed as he felt the blood flowing back into his limb. Kanda's penknife made quick work of the netting.

"There you're free," Said Kanda, still scowling.

Allen ran his fingers over his leg; there were a few shallow slices in his skin where the netting had been just tight enough to cut him. But otherwise he was unharmed.

He grinned at Kanda.

"You know you look better when you don't smile, with those teeth you look like you want to eat me," Said Kanda.

Allen just grinned some more.

"You are Professor Walker aren't you?" Questioned Kanda out of the blue.

Allen's smile melted off his face and turned to look away from Kanda's gaze, but gave one sharp nod.

"I thought so, and you saved me when I was drowning?"

Allen nodded again.

"I guess this makes us even then," Kanda gestured to the netting, "But don't think I'm just going to forget about this. You're explaining things to me eventually beansprout."

Allen sighed and nodded for the last time.

"Good," And with that Kanda stood up and left.

Allen buried his face in his hands; oh he was in so much trouble.

**It's over, it's done, chapter 4 is finished! I made it especially long to make up for my lack of writing over the past year or two. I hope you liked it!**

**Ta Seb**


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